News

My attention has been drawn to an intriguing piece of footage that has been posted on Youtube in which a pair of hooded Syrian rebels are displaying the identity card of an Iranian Revolutionary Guard killed during the recent unrest – see video above.

There have been many reports in recent months that Iran has deployed elite Revolutionary Guard units to Syria to support the efforts of President Bashir al-Assad to suppress anti-government protests. The Revolutionary Guards, of course, have a great deal of expertise in this area after the role they played in crushing Iran's pro-democracy movement in the wake of the controversial 2009 presidential election.

But this clip provides deeply embarrassing evidence of just how involved the Iranians are in helping the Assad regime to suppress the opposition, as it shows the identity card of a Revolutionary Guards officer who was caught by Syrian rebels and killed.

The clip has certainly caused some consternation in Iran, where I'm told the country's Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has convened an emergency summit of Revolutionary Guard commanders in Tehran to improve the security of Iranian agents working in Syria to ensure there are no further embarrassing revelations.